Exploring the Light
by Steelshade
Summary: A light-hearted romance between Lux, the Lady of Luminosity, and Ezreal, the Prodigal Explorer. I drew the art for the cover
1. Chapter 1

Ezreal sighed.

As much as he enjoyed fighting the forces of Noxus on the Fields of Justice, he just wasn't into it today. But he knew he had to be, if he wanted to succeed in doing his best. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath in through his nose as he felt the summoning process come to completion, and the bright light of day met his closed lids from the other side. The explorer's nose was filled with the crisp, chilling wind of winter, and a cold breeze billowed his wintry clothing. With a slight smile, he brushed back his snowy white hair. The summoner had chosen the frosty look for him. Grabbing a Doran's Blade from the grinning shop keeper, Ezreal regarded his teammates, and they him. Garen was already in a quick exchange with his Demacian friend Jarvan, as they both headed to tag-team the bottom region of Summoner's Rift, and Xin Zhao had quickly disappeared into the jungle. Luxanna, the only other caster, was smiling as she came to stand by him after picking an item from the shop. It looked like he was teamed with Demacia itself.

"I was going to take the middle section, if that's fine by you," she chimed, her voice low and calm. She looked relaxed. More like she was going out to shop for new spell books and tea cups, than fight other champions on the Fields of Justice.

"Fine by me," he replied with a chuckle, giving her a confident smirk. She grinned, mimicking his confidence as she swiped her hand once through her blonde hair.

"Good luck, then...?" she paused in heading down the middle lane in the forest, indicating that she did not know his name.

"Ezreal," he said with the same smirk, one hand planted on his hip while the other adjusted the goggles on top of his head. He started to walk backwards down his own lane as Lux grinned at him from across the snowy base.

"Good luck, Ezreal," she smiled as minions started to pour from their Nexus. He threw her a salute before leading the trail of blue-caped minions down the top lain of Summoner's Rift.

To his slight annoyance, Katarina and Cho'Gath were his laning opponents. He had hoped on a day like this, he would only have to deal with one bumbling, OP Noxian. But alas.

He held them off well, slinging mystic shot at opportune moments, smacking Cho or Kat in the face with it when they were out of position from behind their minions, and stacking up the experience and gold. He drove Katarina to the point of having to go back to her base once, helped by her overconfidence. Cho was more patient, and the creature of the void put quite a dent in his health. He finally snagged a kill on Kat, and that ended up almost costing him a death. He stuck to his turret like a leach for the following 7 minutes after calling for Xin to come pick up a kill from the bloodthirsty Cho'Gath.

Breathing heavily, Ezreal wiped sweat from his brow, despite the cold. He used his other hand to lean against the turret for support. The giant stone structure rumbled every second as it shot magical projectiles, the reverberations humming down the stone-cold masonry. The turret shot at the enemy minions swarming its base as Cho'Gath prowled at the edge of its range, his growling voice murmuring promises of bloodshed toward Ezreal. The explorer's icy gaze was focused on the fighting going on between the minion, and he steadied his ragged breathing. He took a glance at his map, and blew a sigh of relief from his nose as he watched the magically moving sphere of Xin Zhao's location trailing up toward the top lane through the river. He noted that Lux was succeeding in dominating her lane, by her positioning.

He waited a moment as Xin crept through the brush, undetected, then burst out to tear the creature of the void apart. Ezreal paused to watch Xin Zhao take him down before starting to recall. Right before the shining blue light whisked him away, he saw Kat return to the lane, and Xin stayed to hold her off.

Ezreal's surroundings flashed, and he was standing squarely in the middle of the snowy, circular base. A cooling, soothing feeling filled him as his given health was replenished, and he turned to buy more items with the gold he had accumulated. As he turned, an announcement sounded that a turret had been destroyed. He checked the map, and saw that Lux had taken the middle turret. Just after he picked up his last item, the Lady of Luminosity appeared behind him in a flash. He almost ran into her on his way back to the top lane.

"Easy there!" she exclaimed, grasping the sleeve on his arm with a start when Ezreal almost knocked into her.

"Pardon," he smiled down at her as she side-stepped around him with the fluidity of a dance. "Well done with your lane," he called as he began to return towards his own. Lux looked up from the counter of the shop as she purchased an item.

"Thank you. Though it looks like I might need to come help the top lane..." there was a sharp glint in her eye as she smiled slyly at him, and she started back out towards the middle lane. Ezreal sent a taken-aback look across the base to Lux as he bounded toward his lane.

"Hey now! I'm soloing that, thank you!" he shouted. Lux threw a wink back across at him before they both lost sight of each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Howdy!**

Sorry for the delay between chapters. I was gathering my thoughts over time, I like to have a clear idea of what I'm going to write about, and to be honest, I didn't put much thought into the later parts of this ha. I just wanted to write! But fortunately, I have the next part in mind, so the third part should follow shortly. I have drawn some fanart for Lux and Ezreal on my deviantart, just google BlackxTigris, and you should easily see it :) Since there's no way to show them here, gotta do a little DIY work :U

**And thanks for the reviews. They are appreciated, believe me!**

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><p>As the match progressed, Ezreal found himself laning with Lux after their team had stormed the middle lane and taken two turrets. They proved to make a good duo, Lux's snare becoming invaluable for the successful landing of both their ultimates.<p>

Ezreal chuckled to himself after firing trueshot barrage, at the same moment that Lux cast her Finales Funkeln. He didn't look to confirm the kill they had both landed, instead he was beaming towards Luxanna. The mage was laughing herself, her blue eyes sparkling as she clasped her hands together.

"Ezreal, we make quite a pair," she grinned, giving his arm a light punch. "That has to be a record for the fastest I've ever killed an opponent with one other champion." Ezreal smirked as the two of them jogged along with their advancing minion wave.

"That snare is all I need," he shrugged with a smile as they began attacking the enemy minions. After a series of alert pings on their maps, Garen globally warned them that a few enemy champions were on their way to flank them in their lane. Not two seconds after his warning, as Lux and Ezreal rushed toward the brush, Katarina and Blitzcrank dashed from the opposite side of the lane, from the river. Being faster, Ezreal grabbed Lux and pulled her toward the remains of the enemy's first middle turret, heading for the jungle right after. Katarina teleported near them, flinging knives that connected painfully with the fleeing pair. Luxanna tugged Ezreal out of the way of Blitzcrank's seeking arm, and they retreated as quickly as possible. Cho'gath appeared from the bushes they were careening towards, and out of instinct, Ezreal arcane shifted beyond him, tossing an attack back at him as he retreated without pause. Cursing at himself, he spun around as he consciously beat back his soloing instinct, and gazed in horror at Lux, slinging spells at her attackers from all sides. Ezreal immediately jumped back into the fray, watching Lux's health diminish rapidly. Luckily, Jarvin and Garen were quick to act, and joined the growing team fight from the river. Garen called out to his sister as he tossed up his shield and tore into her attackers. Jarvin grabbed Lux, and threw her away from the battle in order to use his ultimate to keep the enemies with him. Ezreal had already arcane shifted once more to be within range of the enemies, charging spell after spell furiously as Garen and Jarvin pushed them back. Garen was locked in a focus-battle with Katarina, and Jarvin signaled to all that Riven was joining the fight from the other team. Cursing, Ezreal stood right next to the wall, blocking Lux against it with his body as he guarded her. Their teammates were in battle together right up the lane from them, and Xin had appeared to fight off a flanking Riven from towards the river.

"Recall, Lux," Ezreal told her urgently, "I'll hold them off if they break through our team." Lux leaned heavily against Ezreal, her wounds reducing her health to the one-shot range.

"There's no time, they're trying to get by to focus me now," she whispered, her voice shaky. True enough, to their horror, Xin had fallen to Riven, and she was charging them. At the same instant, Katarina had broken away from Garen's attacks, and was within seconds of teleporting towards Lux to finish her off. Without pausing to think, Ezreal whipped around to face Lux, and gathered her up against him. Lux feebly wrapped her arms around his neck as Ezreal cast arcane shift towards the wall, hoping with all of his might that he could pull this off. The slice of Katarina's thrown blade seared his back as the golden light deposited him on the other side of the wall. Relief and disbelief flooded over him like an avalanche as he clutched Lux's form, still in his arms.

"I can't believe that worked, Lux," he whispered as he gathered her up in his arms and continued to run through the jungle. "Lux?"

He realized Katarina's bouncing blade had struck her. She feebly looked up at him as he dashed through the jungle, crossing the river swiftly as he carried her toward safer territory. She was barely hanging onto him. She tilted her head up, her face gently pressing against his cheek.

"Ignite," she whispered, her lips on his ear. The moment the words escaped her mouth, life left her. Shocked, Ezreal stopped dead in his tracks.

"Luxanna?" he ventured, cradling her body as he knelt down, a cool woman's voice filling the air. _An ally has been slain._ Ezreal's eyes were wide as Lux's body disintegrated into a blinding light, floating gracefully out of his arms and into the air. Ezreal stayed there, stunned and alone for a few moments, almost forgetting the fact that she would respawn within seconds. Most of all, he was taken aback by his own reaction to her death. He had been in countless battles on the Fields of Justice. He had seen numerous teammates fall beside him in a fight, he himself had died a number of times on the Fields. Never had a death dazed him as Lux's had, right in his arms, after he had pulled off an amazing discovery to save her. Then again, never had he wanted a teammate to live as much as he had wanted Luxanna to in this instance. Shaking off these appalling thoughts, Ezreal staggered to a bush and recalled.

The majority of his team met him there after they had finished up the team fight, after he and Lux had escaped. Xin Zhao had already been revived, Garen had retreated and was there regaining health, and both Jarvin and Lux were in the process of being revived. The team fight had ended in their favor, Jarvin and Garen had succeeded in killing Blitzcrank and Katarina after she was busy going after Lux, and in the process of falling to Riven, Xin had brought her health down enough to be easily picked off by Garen in his retreat. Jarvin was killed when the enemy's fifth champion, Morgana, had finally joined the fight.

"That was a good run," Garen told the company of three, resting his hand on his sword. "Xin, defend the bottom turret, they're taking this opportunity to poke at it a little. Ezreal, push mid away from our turret. I'll be up in the top lane." Xin Zhao was off, having bought his needed items from the shop during his reviving period. Garen also departed, and Ezreal was able to gather his items from the shop keeper before heading across the base towards the middle. After killing all the enemy minions that surrounded his middle turret by himself, he stood by the low-healthed stone structure waiting for the wave of his minions to arrive. Following at the end of the trail of minions was Luxanna. Ezreal went to her before she reached the turret.

"We almost got away with that, Lux," he said with a slight smile, resting his hand against her arm briefly. She beamed at him, beginning to attack the enemy minions that had advanced.

"You really took a gamble with that one, huh?" she said, a slight teasing sound in her tone. Ezreal laughed as he shrugged.

"Hey at least it worked!"

"What would you have done if you would've ended up on the other side of that wall alone and safe," Lux pondered with a smirk, "And I was left to be devoured by Riven and Katarina from both sides?" She ended with a laugh, poking fun at the brutal gamble he had taken. Ezreal threw her a smirk.

"Say 'oops' and stroll off through the jungle."

They both laughed heartily at this. The numbing feeling that was left in the pit of his stomach from having defied all odds to save Luxanna, only to hold her in his arms as she died, finally warmed and evaporated like a summer's mist.

After Xin Zhao had defeated both Riven and Morgana at their first turret in the bottom lane, their team took the opportunity to make the final push past the enemy's inner turret and inhibitor. Having been beating down the entire enemy team the whole match, they easily defeated the Noxian champions, and destroyed their nexus on the final run. The remaining enemy champions grumbled and waited to be summoned back from Summoner's Rift, and Ezreal's team indulged in a little... _sportsmanlike _celebrating.

Garen hugged his sister, both beaming in their victory as the announcing voice called out their win. Lux immediately launched similarly after into Ezreal's unexpecting arms, and the explorer laughed in surprise as he squeezed her and lifted her off her feet. She giggled in elation, her soft blonde hair brushing against Ezreal's cheek as he swung her around. Setting her down, Ezreal's hands stayed on her waist as they both smiled at each other, Lux's arms still draped over his shoulders.

"Congratulations, Ezreal. I hope we meet again on the Fields of Justice," she said, and Ezreal was happily aware of the proximity of their faces.

"Hopefully on the same team, Luxanna," he smirked, giving her waist a happy squeeze. She laughed, her arms sliding from around his shoulders to his upper arms, one hand landing to rest warmly against his cheek. She beamed as she turned her head towards her Demacian companions with a cocky salute.

"Good win, team!" And as if this was some sort of friendly tradition among them, they returned her salute with a shout.

"Good win!"


End file.
